Greg Raymer hand

[heavybody]

I was reading Mr. Raymer's World Poker Finals 2004 trip report when this hand came up...[ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ] Blinds are T600,1200 with a T200 ante.

Button starts in the 7 seat. I fold the first couple of hands, and raise UTG with AQ the next hand. Freddy calls. flop is K98, and we both check. turn is 7, he bets, I fold. I hated to lose the first one, but I felt he hit that flop.

I fold my blinds, and fold around to my next big blind. I wanted to steal, but usually somebody beat me to it, or it just wasn't a good spot to do so. In my BB I get Th8h, and 3 limpers. SB completes, I check. Flop is 679, but it's all spades. All check. Turn is Qc, and I bet T4000. First two limpers fold, and Alan Miller calls. SB folds. River is 5d. I think awhile, trying to decide if Alan has the flush. I bet T5000, leaving me with about T7500. Alan asks how much I have left. He does some chip counting and stacking. Finally, he bets enough to put me all-in. I immediately call. He says good call, he only has the As. I show my straight, and have T40,000, my highest chip count yet.

I was a little surprised he checked this rather dangerous looking flop considering there were 4 hands out against him.
The pot already has 7,000 in it which is almost half of his current stack . I think it would have been prudent to put at least a pot sized bet out, which probably would mean he was pot-committed anyways so going all in would be playable too.
Somebody could easily have flopped a set(lots of players limp with small to medium pairs), flush draw, flush(ouch) etc...why give them a free card? If I have the best hand I want to get some money in the pot and if i'm beat so be it. Head-up or maybe 2 players I might give a little rope,but not here. Comments accepted.

heavily bodied

[37offsuit]

I think the idea is that this is a board you can check to find out where you are at and the turn is going to define this hand a lot more. If you check and it gets checked around, no big deal, because unless you push and are willing to risk your tournament on no one flopping the flush or calling with the A:s: and catching, the turn is a much better place to make your move. With one card to come, it's much worse for the single flush drawers and the SB will definately bet out with a made hand here. So you only have the 3 limpers to worry about. The only possible hand you're behind to at this point is Ax suited, as with this kind of scary board, a made flush lower than the nuts would have likely bet to prevent a higher single card flush draw to get off cheap.

Still, I think if your 4K bet gets pushed all in, you seriously consider laying it down. You trust your read at that point. The 4K bet had to at least smell like a made flush on the flop that missed it's check raise and is now value betting.

By the river raise all in, Raymer was pot committed.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

I'm probably not going to get rid of the As by a flop bet, and if there is a bet and raise behind me on the flop, I can get away from my hand correctly. Basically, it is a safe way to play the hand, though there is still a risk of giving a free card to a medium spade that hits the turn but who would've folded if I bet the flop.

I played the turn and river as I did because of my read of the player, not because of just the math.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)